Back to School

This week I witnessed the end of one era and the beginning of another as I prepared my little guy for his first day of Kindergarten!

Though he has been ready for this for about a year {LOL!}, I still can't believe how FAST this time has come. I was a proud mama as I watched him enter the school and his classroom with the confidence of someone who has been doing this for years. After wiping away a few tears, I gave myself a "pat on the back" for a job well done in helping to instill in him a sense of wonder, curiosity and a desire to learn as he begins his educational career outside of our home.

Of course an occasion such as this requires some "craftiness" {giggle}. The blogsphere is filled with so many cute 'back-to-school' crafts but the one I love and found to be pretty simple was the "First Day of School" printable {I've found our new school tradition}. The Goodwill frame required just a little wood glue on the corners and I changed the original matting out for a more simple single mat. Using my Silhoutte machine, downloadable free fonts and vinyl, I created the lettering.

I LOVE it! It was simple and only took me about an hour to create and now I have something that will see us through high school! Here's hoping your child(ren)have an AWESOME first day of school too!

Before Meets After ~ Laundry Room Project

We've been in our house for three years ~ new home, new town ~ and I'm just getting around to decorating some of the rooms.

Our laundry room is very small and this is the first room you enter when coming in from the garage. The rule in our house is that our shoes are left at the door {we have wall-to-wall light colored carpet}, so this space has turned into a "catch-all" for shoes and jackets - not exactly what I envisioned when we moved in.

The clutter was beginning to drive me bonkers, so it was time to do something about it. I originally wanted to paint the space, but I didn't want this project to turn into the 'never ending' project so I took it in another direction - simpler and less time. Here is where the 'before' meets 'after'....


Too many jackets!


I should be ashamed of myself for posting this picture {what a mess...lol!}, but there can't be a proper 'before meets after' without it so here it is


Lookin' good {smile}! I used my Silhoutte machine to create the words and graphics in vinyl, AND cleaned up the jackets


A close-up -- not perfectly straight, but good enough I think


A trip to IKEA and I found this great piece in the children's department and it fits beautifully. I personalized each bucket in vinyl so now no one has the excuse of not putting their shoes away properly

I purchased this cushion for it but I'm not loving it. The colors are what I want to give the space that "pop" of color it needs since I chose not to paint, but the size is still a tad bit too long so back to the drawing board on that one


I love that I'm taking the time to spruce up the place a bit. Honestly, I think it has taken me so long because I wasn't sure how I felt about living here but the longer I'm here the more it's starting to feel like home. Besides, decorating one space at a time is good for the soul {or at least that's what I keep telling myself}!

Prayer Board

I'm so excited to FINALLY be working on decorating our master bedroom...a project that has been long overdue and much needed. I've painted an accent wall (pics to come), bought new bedding and have spent hours online searching for ideas to get my creative juices flowing.

One of the things that I wanted to incorporate into the room was a prayer board. I saw one of these on Pinterest (here) and I immediately knew that I wanted to have one so I set out to find just the right items to create one of my very own.


I found this wonderful corkboard at the Goodwill for just $3 - perfect size, and price and I would only have a little bit of work to transform it.


I painted the frame in a chocolate brown acrylic paint


Okay, at this point I was so excited that this was coming together so well I didn't realize that I stopped taking photos of my process...LOL! I painted the corkboard with the same paint that I used on my accent wall {NOTE: not sure if this will hold up over time but we shall see}, cut out the curly tree using my Silhoutte machine and Mod Podged it on, purchased the beautiful wooden 'curly-q' letters from Hobby Lobby and painted them in an opaque white acrylic paint and attached using Gorilla glue. I finished off the frame and letters with clear polycrylic.

Here is the final product.




Of course it's been a very cloudy day so the color of the board looks different in each photo {though it's closest to its true color in the first pic}. I wish I could show the slight design and light blue coloring in the paper that I used for the curly tree but that's not showing up well either - my photos truly don't do this project justice {someday I really am going to learn how to use all the functions on my camera...HA}.

This project {like many others...lol} doesn't look anything at all like what I had in my mind but I'm very pleased with it and it looks great on my wall. With my busy schedule, I love the idea of a visual reminder of those I need to pray for and perhaps, just perhaps it will help me to slow down...even if it's just a little bit.

Little Blue's Room is linking up with these fun parties!